WAMJ

WAMJ (107.5 FM, "Majic 107.5") is a radio station broadcasting an Urban AC format. Licensed to the suburb of Roswell, Georgia, it serves the Atlanta metropolitan area. It first began broadcasting in 1997 under the call sign WTHA. The station is currently owned by Radio One, via licensee Radio One Licenses, LLC.

The station broadcasts from studios at Centennial Tower in downtown Atlanta, and transmits from atop 1050 Crown Pointe Plaza, a high-rise building just barely on the Dunwoody side of the Perimeter Center edge city north of Atlanta. Issued in November 2008, it has a permit to move to its own tower on the south side of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard (Georgia 141) and north side of Buford Highway (U.S. 23 / Georgia 13) between Doraville and Norcross. This is along Jones Mill Road at Mechanicsville Road in the Mechanicsville community (not to be confused with the Mechanicsville neighborhood in Atlanta).

History

The station is the result of FCC docket 80-90, which reduced the required spacing between FM stations. It forced W298AA permanently off-air. The original callsign was WTHA when the construction permit was issued at the beginning of October 1996. This was in anticipation of "Hot 97.5" (WHTA-FM, now WUMJ FM) simulcasting north of Atlanta as "Hot 107.5". Instead, the station signed on February 6, 1998, as "Majic 107.5" broadcasting an R&B format with the WAMJ call sign. This was the original incarnation of WAMJ and the "Majic" brand which lasted only three years.

WJZZ-FM

Smooth Jazz 107.5 logo (2001–2009)

On June 27, 2001, that format and the WAMJ callsign were sent to also-new 102.5 FM as "Grown Folks Radio", and 107.5 then became WJZZ-FM "Smooth Jazz 107.5". WHTA was instead moved to "Hot 107.9" a couple of months later.

The on-air jingles heard on WJZZ were similar to those heard on Clear Channel-owned smooth jazz stations, such as WSMJ, WNUA, KKSF, and the former WJJZ (which was shortly revived by Greater Media, and also used the same jingles; this station is now WPEN). The WJZZ jingles used the opposite arrangement of their Clear Channel counterparts, which meant that the frequency preceded the call sign, instead of the other way around. As a result, the words "smooth jazz one oh seven point five W-J-Z-Z" were sung to the tune, again reversing the Clear Channel practice (instrumental versions of these jingles were used on Broadcast Architecture's Smooth Jazz Network until 2012).

The smooth jazz format had enjoyed a surprisingly long run of success in the Atlanta market, which is better known for its R&B/hip-hop, pop/rock, and country heritage. From 1994 to 2000, the format was used on WJZF (now WALR-FM "Kiss 104.1").

Return of "Majic 107.5"

Logo during simulcast with 97.5

On January 28, 2009, WJZZ dropped its long running smooth jazz format, and returned to an Urban AC format, resurrected the original banding "Majic 107.5" in its second incarnation. On February 16, 2009, the "Praise 97.5" format and WPZE call sign was moved to 102.5 FM. 97.5 FM then began simulcasting WJZZ-FM as "Majic 107.5 | 97.5" WUMJ. After 7½ years at 102.5, the "WAMJ" call sign was returned to 107.5 on February 27, 2009, replacing the "WJZZ" callsign.^[1][2] In light of the move, the old WAMJ tagline from its 102.5 days, "Grown Folks Radio," was dropped in favor of a new one for its return to 107.5, "Atlanta's Best Mix of R&B." Overall, this is the third incarnation of the urban AC format for WAMJ. With the format shuffle, WAMJ incorporated more 1980s and 1990s R&B into its rotation. This lead WALR to upgrade its same format from gold R&B oldies to more recent music to maintain a competitive edge. WAMJ is the current syndicated home to the Steve Harvey Morning Show. (Despite most Radio One Urban AC's running the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Atlanta is the lone exception because he is heard on competing station WALR-FM, a Cox Radio-owned Urban AC, as well as other Cox stations using that same format.) The simulcast on 97.5 ended on January 10, 2016, as WUMJ's signal upgrade in 2013 resulted in more listeners moving to 107.5, making 97.5 expendable.

References

External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WAMJ
• Radio-Locator information on WAMJ
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WAMJ
• Query the FCC's FM station database for W275BK
• Radio-Locator information on W275BK
• RecNet query